All-star games were never competitive. Never. It's not a "last X years" sort of thing, they just legitimately haven't been anything more than glorified pond-hockey for star players to screw around probably from near the beginning of when they were first conceived. Through the lenses of us watching as kids they probably looked a lot more entertaining than they actually were, but if you were to go back and try watching old ASGs whenever re-airings pop up on things like NHL Network or through the Gamecenter archives (do they offer those?), you'll probably be disappointed. The only thing that's ever really worth watching is the skills competition, and that's mostly down to fun factor (if/when the events are set up right)
As for the lack of tickets, that is a slightly more recent development. The last couple decades have really increased the amount of corporate gladhanding and cronyism that is generally "required" to do business, and that means that prestige events like the ASG are little more than schmooze parties for league sponsors and prospective partners and is why tickets are so scarce for joe and jane average public hockey fan. The truth is now that outdoor games are the new "fan mecca" event because they will be played in large enough stadiums that the league can still dole out 15k seats to business relationships and still have a sizeable amount left over to put through public sale.
I don't know... I go back and forth... the 12-14 games I remember watching as a kid may have been high scoring and there was little defense, but the guys were trying to score. I do want to re-watch a few after your comment.
I totally agree with you about the lack of tickets. That being said, a lot of it depends on the STH base of the host city. Every full STH I know has always been offered a seat. After they are taken care of, they can move on to people with smaller plans, use them as a carrot to sell seats for the following season, etc..... My guess is that sponsors, media, league, etc get about 5000 seats....about 1/3 of most arenas.
In my opinion, the outdoor games are getting played out. In 2014, they had 4 Stadium Series, The Heritage Classic and the Winter Classic. The game in LA was a dud and the Isles were not even close to selling the seats they were supposed to. I've been to 4 of them, and I don't think I'd go to another one.
I'm coupling this trip with a trip to see family in the Bay Area and had a friend at the league get me seats. It was a no brainer. This will make 3 in 4 years for me, but I don't think I'm going to St. Louis in 2020.